The Beecake - gig review

Indie

At last! Scotland has its very own film star vanity project band, and – as is the unspoken tradition with such things – they’re not quite as good as everyone might hope. To be fair, though, Billy Boyd’s Beecake were playing an acoustic charity set for the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival in the corner of a packed Ashton Lane pub (and Norman Blake, on just before Boyd, was great), and everyone guffawing away over the other side of the bar just about got away with their rudeness this time. At least they didn’t have to listen to the lyrics.

Legend has it that Boyd is one of the nicest men in the shallow pond of Scottish showbiz, but his music isn’t quite so pleasant. Although his band’s MySpace suggests they’re a extremely passable post-grunge outfit, this stripped-down set – with the smartly waistcoated Boyd on vocals and guitar and Billy Johnston on guitar and keys – showed up the pub-rock poetry of songs like ‘Lost Direction’ and ‘Soul Swimming’. It’s like Fran Healy never got signed. (David Pollock)